Was it twelve years later?
by SuruPai
Summary: Ash and Misty haven't seen each other since the day she left his side to take care of her gym because of the sister's around-the-world trip. Twelve years can be more than you think, as the 24 year old Ash steps inside Cerulean Gym to meet his old friend. In their minds this scenario have repeated over and over, but things aren't turning out the way they expected.
1. His Closed Fists

It was all so nostalgic. More than ten years had passed since he watched the oh-so-beautiful Cerulean City. Around him there were trees, the river and not very uncommon pokémon center. As he looked at it now, like a picture, it seemed like nothing had changed. But so much had changed. He knew that, and that's why he couldn't enter. He just stood there, staring at the gym-entrance as if it were thousands of miles away. Out of his reach. His heart felt heavy and his stomach nervous. Raichu was next to him, looking up with a blank expression. Of course he wondered why they were just standing there. But Ash felt an invisible barrier, as if he was to enter a sacred place. Was he really worthy to enter?

So many times in his mind had he seen this scene, this scenario. A beautiful, warm day. He'd enter, and she'd be there. But how would they greet each other? Hug? Handshake? It was way more complicated than just nice weather. He felt it now more than ever.

But suddenly the Raichu spurted off, and the automatic doors opened up to the mouse-pokémon. Ash had to snap out of it, and as they used to even back then, he followed his companion without hesitation. The little bastard knew exactly how to get him moving. Too bad he wasn't wearing the cap anymore.

He threw it away. Like so many other things.

"Miss Misty, there's someone here to see you."

The ginger-haired girl looked behind her shoulder to one of the gym's trainers. In her arms were a floundering Togepi, splashing water around with a happy, chirping tone.

"Is it a challenger?" She asked, hugged the baby-pokémon and started swimming towards the pool-edge.

"No, miss. There's a man saying he knows you." The trainer explained, but Misty wasn't quiet sufficed. "Anything else about him?" She asked, taking a grip of the ladder.

"Well..." The trainer started, but seemed pretty uncomfortable being asked. There obviously was something. She gave him a frown and glare, so he quickly inhaled some air. "He said... He isn't here to break your bike this time, miss."

And right there, she was sure her heart stopped.

The sun coming in from the early morning sun, reflecting themselves in the water and lighting the gym up like it was magic. The smell of chlorine was unmistakable and warm. The whole place was very warm, actually. He felt it on his bare arms, how the air was thick, almost tropical.

But there was no time to enjoy the lighting, for he could see her. Raichu had taken his place next to Ash, watching the other with ears pointed high and eyes sparkling in excitement. Ash felt nothing but a hard, heavy lump in his chest. He was frozen. Her graceful movements in the water, and her slightly longer orange hair that floated in the waves. Her skin so pale and shining from the light of the sun, and the distant echo of her voice when talking to the other male.

It had been twelve years. Twelve, long years.

Misty walked up the ladder slowly with both her blue eyes glued to the silhouette in front of the entrance. Her mind was completely blank, and every heartbeat hurt like it would crush her whole chest, bones and flesh. He was tall. His hair was messy, his shoulders wide and his cap gone. He had both fists closed, and looked at her with a pair of blank, brown eyes.

Was she happy? Was she sad? She couldn't tell. Perhaps if he smiled, she would dare to approach him with no worries. But when his face stayed like that, so serious, he really felt like a stranger.

Misty only wore her white swimsuit, and carefully placed Togepi on the floor. The male trainer came with a towel, and she laid it across her shoulders. It was stiff against her shoulders. She had grown a little as well, but it was nothing compared to him. When her steps alone echoed in the big hall, she just waited for her heart to recognize him. And so, with an aching feeling in her stomach, she opened her mouth.

"Can I assume you're here to see me? Wouldn't think you need my badge again, alright."

Her voice woke something inside of him to life. He hadn't heard that voice in years, and the memory of it raised to the surface like a long lost treasure. The orange hair seemed to have an almost golden tone, and reached her collarbones. She looked a little skinny, but otherwise well. The blue tone in her eyes were like the sea, and the water drops on her body fell down on the overly-clean floor. He wasn't sure if his voice was gonna hold, but he had to answer.

"Well, I sure ain't here to hang out with the pool-cleaner."

A smile spread across her face, and Ash felt it doing something with his expression as well. The edge of his mouth, even if it felt heavy like Donphans, raised slightly. She saw his vague smile, and his whole appearance was just so... mature. Misty wondered if she had the same aura around her, as well. And also, if that was really what he was searching for.

"Wo~ow! The innocent little guy got some attitude now." The gym leader grinned, and suddenly heard some happy chirping from behind her feet. Togepi and Raichu and smelled each other a little, and then suddenly started talking with eyes seriously sparkling of mere joy. Like two long lost siblings, finally seeing each other again. Could Ash and Misty do that as well?

Ash shrugged and casually put both hands in the pockets of his jeans. "You seem well, at least." He pointed out, watching her cross her arms.

Misty had no idea what to answer. She wanted to say something like 'well, good you weren't here two years after I had to leave, cause I for sure wasn't okay', and then laugh like it was some joke. But she couldn't. The words stuck in her throat, and she swallowed them. She didn't want to blame him, nor Brock, nor her sisters. She tried to convince herself she was over it.

"Y-yeah, I guess." She said, brushing some wet hair away from getting stuck on her cheeks. "I survive well enough. How about you? I'm sure the wannabe-champion have a lot of stories to tell an old comrade."

Ash gave her a vague smile and a hollow chuckle. "Wannabe? Please, that was long ago. I won, I moved on." He stated, looking down the ground like with eyes like he was almost ashamed of it. And it did hit Misty with surprise, too. The last time she saw him, he had been crushed by defeat after fighting his hardest every day. And now, that was already over. The champion was a past part of his life. He got the shirt, and grew too big for it. So she stood there, blinking three times, then gave him a worried smile.

"Congratulations, a few years too late." She told him, crossing both arms over her chest. Ash dared to look up at her, and sought something in her eyes. He just wanted to find something that he had so longed miss. Some feeling of home, and a piece of the time where there were no troubles in the whole world.

But time had taken them all away from him.

_Author's notes_: Hi everyone! Thank you for reading the beginning of my first published fanfiction. I'm not a native English speaker, so I know there may be grammar errors all over the place, but I did do my best to check everything. I really enjoy writing this, so next chapter is hopefully up soon!


	2. Her Bare Neck

Ash watched her bring the french fries to her mouth and chew. Her hair was up in a ponytail on the back of her head, and her bare neck felt attractive in a way. She had changed clothes, wearing a white-and-blue striped chemise and shorts. When she leaned with one arm against the table and her cleavage showed a little, Ash wondered if she had always been a woman.

He had just asked her where her sisters were, but she hadn't answered it yet. Her eyes seemed like they were tempted to look out the window, which he guessed meant she was wondering what to answer. His casual question perhaps wasn't so casual. He had a meal in front of himself too, hamburger, but had barely touched it yet.

"They never came home from the vacation." She muttered, picking up another french fry. The reason Misty had to leave from the start was that her sisters were going on a world-around-tour, and she had to take care of the gym. Ash had taken for granted it would last for a few months, but _still_? Something wasn't quiet right. He soon got an explanation.

"They found boyfriends somewhere and decided to stay." She said, dipping in the ketchup. Ash used to eat eight of those, she thought, looking at his food. And when he noticed she did, he did his best to pick it up and eat. There was something bitter in her tone, but he couldn't quiet put it in a folder. She should be happy for them, right? But...

She had been alone all these years.

Ash felt nothing less than guilty, even if he was sure he knew exactly what she would say if he told her. Misty always did her best to act tough. Twelwe years here, swimming, training and chitchatting with the trainers. With no one to talk to, no one to hold onto. Only her and her thoughts. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. Nothing he could ever say would take away tvelwe years of pain. There was no use.

"So how long did they chase your tail?" She asked him, and he snapped out of his thinking. Blinking once in confusion, he tried to recall if she had given him some kind of hint, but he was sure it had been completely quiet. "Who?" He asked, and she smiled when looking down the food. "Prepare for trouble... dubble trouble..." She whispered, looking up and showed the upper row of fine, white teeth in a teasing smile. He felt himself smiling at the memory, even if it during that time was nothing but despair. They had been complete losers, after all, no matter how much they tried to act otherwise.

"I defeated their leader in fair battle, and in the shadows somewhere that caused the organization to distband." He confessed. During that time he had no idea their battle would make such a big change, and even if he was happy the scum of pokémon thieves were gone, he wondered what had happened to them. The woman who thought she was beautiful, the man who liked to dress up like a girl and the only talking pokémon in the world. The weirdest trio he had ever encountered, and encountered so many times.

Misty pointed at him with one of the fries, showing that she had a point to say, he just had to wait until she had swallowed. "How about old man Brock? How is he?"

Ash chuckled at the memory of their older friend, leaned backwards in the chair and felt that he could relax a little. Their conversation turned more and more comfortable. More like he had expected it to be.

"We traveled together through some more regions and years. Somehow we always managed to meet again, but when I traveled to the Unova region that stopped. And then..." He grinned, scratching his neck because he barely couldn't believe this himself. "Five years ago, I heard that he's married and with a kid. A little girl called Brinley. The gym is runned by the oldest out of the rest of the siblings, and Brock himself isn't only breeder, but also chef."

Misty felt warm when she heard about it. Oh how many times she had to pull him in the ear to get him away from all those girls. She had no hope in him on that front at all. But somehow she could see it, how all his dreams came true. But the warm feeling was also sticky and unpleasant with a shadow of jealousy. She wondered if he even remember her today.

Ash realized she wouldn't continue the conversation, so he did it himself. Even if he started at a point where none of them wanted to start, only waited in tension for.

"Are you seeing anyone?"

Yes, the female's smile was bitter. It curled upwards, but her lips turned more into small, pink lines, and her eyes was distant. Ash hated to see her doing that. He already knew she wouldn't look at him when she turned that way. It was like she blamed everything around her. He pitied her, and he hated doing so. The Misty he knew would hit him if he would ever feel sorry for her. Now her eyes were there, almost begging him to do so.

"No." She said, stating the obvious. "I've met a few, but it just didn't work out. How about you?"

Misty had nothing more to say. Nothing about how she had wanted her boyfriend to take her away, make her free, unchain her. Travel the world. Ash had already managed to finish his burger now, and cleaned his hands on the tissue just for the sake of being around a lady. Misty had never even seen him touch a tissue before. He barely got ridd of the snot when he was sick. One time she had to do it for him.

"Same story over here." He said, even if he doubted her relationship had lasted longer than the ones he tried out. Though thinking of anyther guy being into Misty felt strange. Almost impossible, even. So why did he feel so angry thinking about another male holding her hand and kissing her lips? Would anyone ever want that?

Of course. Of course they would. Ash couldn't disagree if anyone told him Misty had grown beautifully. She still had a little boyish way of speaking and clothing, but something about her lit up the room when she truthfully smiled. Had it always been like that? If it was like that, he had closed his eyes every time.

He couldn't deny he had wondered over the years what Misty had thought about him either. The way she reacted when he didn't turn sad because she had to leave had came to him more and more. The more he thought about her and caught fish with the fish-bait she had done for him. He still had it in his bag, laying in the motel room.

"What were you expecting, when you came in here?"

Ash looked up and faced Misty. She was actually turned right at him, looking with those sparkling like the water surface. It was still something begging in them, though. Something he couldn't point his finger at. It was like that sparkling surface did like the sea, hiding a deep, mysterious, heavy ocean underneath the beauty he could see.

"Errh... I don't really know. To see you again, of course." He said and cursed himself on the inside for sounding so lame. "What do you mean?"

She lited her head in such a cute way. Ash felt his heart being touched even when his mind was confused.

"I mean what you want to do. I've offered you some food, but I've been here so long I've forgotten what there is to do in this town." She said, and he chuckled. "Well..." He started. "I was thinking we could talk. Have a nice time. Take a walk. Wait for the evening and take a drink, perhaps?"

A smile spread across her face. Her skin looked so soft in the sunlight from the windows he just wanted to touch it. He imaginated it like silk of an angel's dress.

"How about a battle, then?" She asked, rising up. "I challenge you!"


End file.
